Did you say library??!
Some books that would fit nicely in our new office
It’s the library that gets me the most excited about our new office at 675 Avenue of the Americas. As Katherine Chia, the architect leading the new design, wrote in her post, “As these Quartzy spaces evolve, they will be shaped by the identities and aspirations of the people who work at Quartz.”
And that’s what a library does best. It captures our identity and aspiration. This library will serve as a window to the soul of the people who work here.
Yet, as deputy editor, Jackie Bischof mentioned, we will need to curate the library so it doesn’t become a “dumping ground for second-hand books.” This library shouldn’t be a place for unwanted books, rather a cutting-edge physical space to ignite conversations and to break the ice.
With this in mind, I wanted to envision what books could be part of the library’s collection. What are the books that most reflect our identity and aspiration? The books that will spark interest and be picked up instead of collecting dust?
I reached out to others and thought of my own list of books that I find interesting and Quartzy. Based on my suggestions and the suggestions of four other book lovers, here are the first eight books that we could add to the library:
My selections
1.- The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices
This book by Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari is a testament of the Arabic role in history, but also a book that I find valuable even though I have yet to read it. It’s an unusual choice, but this book, in its own way, inspires creativity.
How does our mind work? How do we better make decisions? In this book, Daniel Kahneman teaches us how to push beyond making decisions based on our intuition and to think rationally.
“Each man [has] only one genuine vocation–to find the way to himself” (p. 108). This quote sums up why I love this book by Hermann Hesse. Understanding who we are and how we differ from others is important to understanding how to pave our path to success.
Deputy growth editor Kristin Oakley’s selections
4.- The Importance of Being Earnest
“I think this book is a great inspiration,” she said. “There are just so many ridiculous parts of that book that remind us to enjoy life and laugh at the little things.”
5.- What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Oakley also thinks the library should include books that people can read when they need a break from their work. She describes this book by Randall Munroe as fun and quirky, similar to Quartz.
Ad operations manager Michael O’Brien’s selection
“It’s endlessly fascinating that no one knows what it really says,” he said. “It could say anything you want it to. It’d be good for spurring out-of-the-box thinking.”
Ad engineer David Dodson’s selection
7.- Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology
“[This book] is from the 80’s when intelligent machines were much more of a thing of the future,” Dodson said of this work by Valentino Braitenberg. “But it goes through a socratic exercise to, in essence, arrive at Artificial Intelligence with the most basic building blocks.”
Junior ad developer Karynn Tran’s selection
8.- Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
Beyond this book, it’s Ed Catmull’s ability to see art in technology and technology in art that resonates the most with Tran.
“I haven’t finished the book yet,” she said. “But from what I’ve read so far, the author offers thought-provoking perspectives and methods on inspiring creativity and building a creative culture.”
As the library in our new office starts to capture our essence and entertain us, it can also become a central point of gathering. The books that we contribute to it will foster that. What other books would you add to this list?
